dot-com wanes; eny, meny, miny, mo

[A. Vine]

Eeny, meeny, miny, mo
Catch a tiger by its/the toe
If he hollers make him pay
Fifty dollars every day

My mother told me to pick this one cause I was naugh-ty
(My mother told me to pick the o-ther one when I was naugh-ty)
(also "mo-ther")

This was used in choosing "it" for games.  Like "potatoes" - incidentally, if
you've ever seen the movie "Assault on Precinct 13", there was a bit of comic
relief (actually a lot, depending on how you look at it) when a person had to be
chosen to make a break for it.  I don't remember the exact line, but it was
decided to use the "potatoes" method, at which point the men broke into:

One potato, two potato,
Three potato, four
Kiss my -ss and
Spit on the floor

Andrea

Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> It would be interesting to try to pin down the replacement pattern--by the
> late 40's in New York, the only version around our part of town was "catch
> a tiger by the toe", and I was amazed when I learned the existence of the
> earlier one.
>
> larry
>
> >
> >Eny, meny, miny, mo
> >
> >The rhyme at the end remained common in Milwaukee until at least the 1940s
> >and possibly even longer.
> >akra
> >
> >
> >      The favorite in Milwaukee at the present time seems to be: "Eny, meny,
> >miny, mo, catch a nigger by the toe; if he hollers, let him go--eny, meny,
> >miny mo."  Doubtless the list could be indefinitely extended.--PECK'S SUN
> >MAN.)